WIXLIB

Qigong: 2001 By Erle MontaigueLose Weight, Get Fit and Get HealthyWith Chinese QigongAn IntroductionChapter one: Introduction:Chi Kung is an ancient Chinese method of using simple stances and, or, movement combinedwith specific breathing techniques to help the body to regain a natural internal balance.Modern medicine now recognises the need for this internal balance in such things as ourimmune system and the balance between internal organs. However, the Chinese took the ideaof internal balance to far greater areas of healing by discovering that each organ in the bodyhad to either have a negative or positive polarity with reference to each other. They alsodiscovered that certain pairs of organs were inextricably linked in what they called yin andyang pairs. So if for instance the Heart was affected, they would look for an imbalancebetween the Heart and the Small Intestine as that is a balanced pair. When the balancebetween those two organs was restored, the patient was well on the way to recovery. Theydidn’t stop there however; they would then diagnose what other parts of the body were out ofbalance and also restore that area.Losing Weight and keeping fit:In order for the physical body to also be in perfect balance and thereby maintaining an idealweight for each body type, internal balance is essential. The mind, spirit and body areinextricably linked. So what one does, has a direct effect upon the other. People who areobese are also out of balance in mind and the levels of yin and yang Qi (energy) in the body.So when we get the mind into balance so too does the body wish to be balanced. In this waylosing weight comes naturally. All of the correct hormones are produced in harmony andbalance to cause the body to lose weight (or gain weight if necessary). The essential hormoneHGH (Human Growth Hormone) is produced in a greater quantity naturally, which is one ofthe best weight loss hormones in the body. And you do not have to take unnatural syntheticHGH which can have a deleterious effect upon the body and mind!15 minutes every morning and evening will help you to lose weight and get fit and mostimportantly, healthy. There is a difference between being fit and being healthy. It is muchbetter to be fit and healthy though. Even supreme athletes can die of heart attacks becausethey were fit but not healthy. So this is also a very important part of Chinese Qigong. Itcauses your body and mind to be fit AND healthy.The main area of losing weight is what your mind is doing. So if your mind is out of balanceso too will your body be out of balance. The first area that Qigong attacks in weight loss(balance), is to balance out the mind and the hormones that affect the mind. In this way youhave a much better chance of losing weight and keeping it off as your mind is not continuallyfooling you into believing that you are hungry, or that you have to eat for comfort oremotional reasons.Emotional:

This is another big area where Qigong is able to help. Ever organ in the body controls adifferent emotion. When I was a child my Mother would always say that I had a ‘shitty’ liverif I was ever angry etc. But she did not know how correct she was. The liver/Gallbladder isthe balanced pair of organs that controls depressed/anger while the Kidneys control fear. TheLungs with its balanced pair, the Colon, control grief/anguish while the balanced pair ofSpleen/Stomach control worry and sympathy. The balanced pair of Heart/Spleen control theemotion of joy.Excessive joy is a disease of an unbalanced Heart. Depression is a disease of the unbalancedLiver. Obsession is a disease of an unbalanced Spleen. Anguish is a disease of an unbalancedLungs while ‘fear’ is a disease of an unbalanced Kidneys. See Chart below.DepressionIs a disease of theLiverExcessive JoyIs a disease of theheartObsessionIs a disease of theSpleenAnguishIs a disease of theLungsFearIs a disease of theKidneysSo many patients have come to our clinic with one of these emotional problems. They cannotsee that their problem is emotional because their mind is out of balance. However, once webegin them on a regime of Qigong and diet, they begin to see things clearer and do not knowwhy they did not see it before! Once the mind is healed, it is always easy to heal the body andto keep it healthy.Qigong comes in many different ways of exercise with breathing methods. Each is designedto either have an over-all effect upon one’s mental and physical state or to attack a specificorgan or group of organs. Once diagnosed, the treatment is simple. Qigong exercises alongwith a simple diet.However, it is also possible to treat oneself using Qigong methods. For this we have the moregeneral Qigong exercises, ones that do not require any great physical ability or interventionby a ‘Qigong Doctor’. It is these Qigong methods that I will be presenting in this book.Our body is divided up into areas of yin and yang (balance). So the upper parts of the bodyare relatively Yin (negative, female, dark, cold), while the lower parts are relatively Yang.(Positive, male, light, warm). The left side of the male body is Yin, while the right isrelatively Yang while the reverse is true for women. That is not to say that the negative is atall bad as one would assume in the West, as both Yin and Yang have equal value in ChineseMedicine and must be in a constant state of balance in order for the body to be healthy.We can have an out of balance state that is not too great, thus giving us a slight headache forinstance, something that will usually right itself given enough time for the body to re-balancenaturally. Or we can have a greatly out of balance state where we have some dire disease thatrequires a doctor s attention or even surgery etc.It is of the utmost importance that we try to maintain this state of balance both externally andinternally in order to have a healthy and long life.

Within every animal there are six balanced pairs of organs and their associated acupuncturemeridians or channels. These meridians can be likened to arteries and veins; only meridianscarry a life-force called AQi@ (Ch i) (pronounced chee ) or Electrical energy. If you move,you must use energy and this energy (Qi) must come from somewhere to cause that action tohappen. It is this feature that the Chinese discovered, that enables us to use the movementtherapies to great benefit.The Chinese call the holding area for the Qi, the Tantien , an electrical space about 3inches below the navel in humans and situated upon an acupuncture meridian called the Jung Mei ( Mei being another name for meridian or channel) which is in the centre ofthe body running from head to sexual organs. This holding area is often also simply called thekidneys. And in Chinese medicine, the kidneys hold a special place of honour because it isthe Kidney Qi that is the main source of energy in the body.So the Chinese doctors found that in order for instance to simply lift a hand, Qi was required.And it came from this holding place immediately down to a point on the base of the footcalled the bubbling well point or Kidney Point No. 1. (Photo No. ) This point is the mainpoint in the body as far as energy is concerned. All energy must firstly go down to the KD 1point in order to be routed all over the body to allow the various muscles to do any work. TheQi, then, had to move through a channel or meridian to get to the final muscle that had to dothis specific work. So for instance if the work was to push something using a single palmand you just happen to have your left foot forward and pushing with your right palm, then theQi would have to be routed through the Heart Meridian thus bathing the heart in lifegiving Qi. This is also apparent in the Martial/Healing art of Tai Chi (Taijiquan) whereby wemake use of this Qi flow directed by certain work. So the group of postures called ‘BrushKnee and Twist Step’ do exactly the above in that you are pushing something with one hand.However, as most things in China are based in some way upon the martial arts, they gave us amartial arts movement to affect this type of healing. So instead of closing a door, for instance,you are attacking someone with one palm while brushing away his initial attack.The same theory applies to all of the 12 main internal organs and associated meridians.So if some genius were to then find a way of moving in a certain pattern that would includeevery movement that would cause the Qi to be routed through ALL of the internal organs,then this would surely be a way to great health!And this is what they did of course when they discovered firstly Qigong and then later, TaiChi. In fact, Tai Chi is called a moving Qigong. (See my book published by Carlton Books,London on Basic Tai Chi.) Movement does not have to be an exercise whereby we have to go somewhere or movesomething physically. It can also mean that we are standing still but using muscle powerwhich of course requires energy. So if we were for instance simply standing still with ourlegs bend, this would still have the effect of routing the Qi all over the body for healing as thelegs would be creating heat and thus needing energy.They then took movement a step further and discovered that certain static postures where thepatient would have to stand in a certain manner and hold certain hand and arm postures,would also cause this great Qi healing. They discovered that when we light a fire we requireenergy, and after the fire is lit, it produces its own energy. The static Qigong stances that theyinvented caused the body to light a fire in the Tantien area which caused the Qi to have tobe routed to all parts of the body and the fuel for this fire was air or breathing in a certainway.So now we have an exercise or non-exercise that almost anyone can perform in some wayor another depending upon how ill they are. And it was discovered that this form of Chi Kungwas also beneficial in stopping disease before it started by simply keeping the body in a